At least the "garbage" that WotC is putting out was made by real people who got paid to do it, rather than going cheap and effortlessly making stuff with prompts.
Prompt writers are not artists and never will be.
But yeah, these arguments are only cementing my perceptions of a lack of empathy in some corners of our hobby. Glad that's sorted out.
Problems aside, AI art is leading to the democratization of art and making it accessible to people without artistic talent or, those who are disabled.
As an aside, I know a lot of folks who currently argue that people using computers to create art are not real artists either when compared to folks physically creating it. I disagree, but technology tends to redefine things in general.
I agree that companies should pay for art by professional artists for professional products.
However, AI art is still art and people who are using prompts to create their vision are creating art to enjoy even if they are not artists. They are using a tool to craft an item that they may otherwise lack the skill to make on their own. It is making it accessible. For an average D&D player, they can use AI to create a representation of their character which is not much different than using a video game character creator.
Now, the LLM's are stealing data left and right and not just from artists. AI's are stripping data from everything without consent and then using it for profit without paying or even giving proper acknowledgment in some cases. My biggest fear is the scanning of open access scientific and medical content and people then using bad data for making life and death decisions.
However, the benefit of AI in creating art making is accessible is a good thing for many people who cannot access it.
AI, in general, is going to destroy a lot of careers or radically alter them and I have serious worries there.
